Take a Look at Territories

Can you benefit from realigning your territory assignments?

There are many benefits to taking a good look at the territories covered by you or your sales staff. You can increase sales opportunities, save extensive travel time and, often, improve the morale of your staff. As a sales manager, your goal is to make sure your salespeople are able to see and work with the greatest number of customers as possible — without sacrificing quality service.

Territory realignment might also allow you to reach new customers, expand visibility and lower some of the costs of doing business. The end result is that salespeople are afforded more time to sell.

When should you consider a realignment of the sales territory?

• If you notice that some territories, i.e. zip codes, are not being served. Take an even deeper look at the landscape of the territory. Are all the big hospitals in one zip code? If they are, you may need to give a piece of that revenue pie to more than one person.
• When you have added a salesperson to your staff. Do not simply give the “scraps” and “impossible” accounts to the new salesperson. You want them to have some satisfaction in their work. Is there an account you have that can be transferred to this new person without hurting the morale or commissions of another? Is there an account the manager or owner is working with that can be successfully transferred over time to the new person?
• When you have reviewed past business revenues and potential customer opportunities. If you see new opportunities in the community or new product lines being offered by your company, it may be time to take a look at the territories. Is it becoming more time-consuming for sales- people to talk with customers about so many new products? Are there new clinics or rehabilitation centers opening in a new part of town that need to be prospected?

Now try the next steps in realigning your company’s sales territories.

• Look at a list of your customer locations, sales force commissions and the markets you want to target. Are commissions particularly low for any salesperson due to the small number of accounts in that territory?
• Look at the number of prospects in each territory. You are looking to develop an equitable distribution of the workforce. There are many variables to consider, but you do not want one salesperson spending 25 percent of his time driving from appointment to appointment and another traveling less than 10 percent of the day.
• Determine the number of territories you need. Pull out a map and take a look. You can quickly see the geographic size of the area, the number of hospitals, office buildings, doctors’ offices, etc. The more you know about the territory you want to cover, the easier it will be to understand what it will take to penetrate the market.

Also remember that sales representatives are not working the territory to make just one visit. They need to call on their accounts several times not only to get the business but to continue to service these accounts.

Once you have a master list of all present customers and a working list of potential accounts, the process will begin to take shape.

As a sales manager, do not exclude your team from contributing to the development of territory borders. Salespeople work better when they understand how the territory was outlined and the reasons for the structure. You want the reps to work together and not spend the entire month resenting the opportunities afforded to others.

Finally, minimize the changes. True, some reps have special relationships with particular accounts. If you take away a potential key account from one salesperson, do not expect to keep the peace for too long unless you offer a valuable replacement.

Territories that are not balanced have too many customers, too many prospects and result in loss of revenues. You may be missing wonderful opportunities to grow your business because people simply have too much to do.

Get out the pencil, share conversations and experiences with those who work the marketplace and the territory — and you are on your way to a match between job satisfaction and outstanding performance.

Louis Feuer is president of Dynamic Seminars & Consulting Inc. and the founder and director of the DSC Teleconference Series, a teleconference training program. He can be reached at www.DynamicSeminars.com or by phone at 954/435-8182.